ENJOY THE SHOW

Last week during Comic-Con, we were invited to a special screening of District 9. As I was sitting in the theater waiting for the film to start, a slow roar of applause began to echo throughout the theater. Peter Jackson himself, along with Neill Blomkamp and Sharlto Copley (the star of the film) had arrived to inform us that this was the very first screening of District 9, and to remind us how thrilled they were for us to be there watching it. I was very excited, to say the least, and now I want to let you know what I thought. We were asked by Peter Jackson himself to keep a lot of the details under wraps, so this will be spoiler free!

From their beginnings as a comic, through the years of video games and cartoons, various iterations of movies, and the amazing toy lines that have been produced, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have always had a soft spot in many people's hearts. This year at Comic-Con marks the 25th anniversary of the TMNT, and the progression towards what fans really want in a new Turtles movie appears to be on the horizon. I was fortunate enough to be at the TMNT panel this afternoon, and we were able to get an early feel for what the new TMNT live-action film currently being written by John Fusco will be all about.

I wanted to voice my opinion on this today, because I felt Kevin's review didn't really do the film justice. Let me start off by saying this: Punisher: War Zone is a completely different movie than Thomas Jane's Punisher from 2004. While I did enjoy that film very much, and while Jane did the best he could with the character, I was never sold on him actually being the Punisher. He looked nothing like him, and the movie wasn't as gritty as many comic book fans are typically used to seeing with the character. Enter December 5th, 2008 and a reboot of the franchise just like Louis Leterrier did with the Hulk earlier this year. So how did this Punisher compare to the ones of past? I believe it was a much better film than both.

From Airplane! in 1980 to the recent release of Tropic Thunder, satirical comedies done right can entertain the best of us. While not every movie he makes is a crowd pleaser, David Zucker is the king of satire. Almost all of his films have been of satirical nature. His work unfortunately paved the way for such disastrously bad movies like Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Meet the Spartans. Even Zucker's last two films, Scary Movie 3 and 4 are considered by many to be sub-par at best. Enter An American Carol, Zucker's latest satirical creation. Starring Kevin Farley (the brother of the late Chris Farley), this film is an open mockery of filmmaker Michael Moore, with Farley's character named Michael Malone. The trailer portrays Malone as America's Scrooge with a goal to get rid of the Fourth of July.

Last Friday night at Comic-Con, the FS.net crew was invited to back-to-back screenings of Pineapple Expresss and Tropic Thunder, two highly anticipated upcoming comedies. Instead of looking at each individually, I thought it would be fun to review both action/comedies together in a "mega review." While they each have their own individual merits, when you see two similar action comedies so closely together, unfortunately one of them is bound to come out on top as the better movie. While I laughed my ass off at Pineapple Express, it was Tropic Thunder that I ended up surpassing my expectations and enjoying more. Whether or not you need to make a decision between these two eventually, let's take a quick back-to-back look at both movies in our second official mega review.

Upon our arrival here at Comic-Con, we weren't quite sure what to expect from the newly founded Summit Pictures. What I saw during their presentation earlier today, however, made me feel like they have been around for quite a while. Much to Alex's dismay, most of the fans were there for Summit's winter film Twilight. The good stuff was all before Twilight as we found out - Push delivered!Push is directed by Paul McGuigan (of Lucky # Slevin previously, a personal favorite of mine) and stars Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Sunshine), Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire, War of the Worlds), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and Camilla Belle (10,000 B.C.); all but Fanning were at the panel today. This was the second big panel in the line-up this year at Comic-Con and it surely didn't disappoint with some great footage!

As Disney was finishing their one hour panel at Comic-Con on Thursday afternoon for the upcoming Race to Witch Mountain, they announced that they had some "special footage" to show the crowd. The lights dimmed and a loud rumble began to blast through the Hall H speakers. From the moment the footage was presented to the audience, the cheering was very loud. Finally, for the first time, Disney had presented new and exciting footage for Tron 2 after it was announced back in September. The visuals were stunning and it looks as if it will be an exciting addition to Disney's line-up. From a light cycle duel to Jeff Bridges appearance, Tron 2 seams as if it were poised to make a grand debut. Without seeing the trailer yourself it's hard to describe the trailer, but I will do my best…

Can I say something that I am sure everyone is saying, or I hope at least thinking? Over the last three years, Hollywood has been giving us one thing that we will never forget - bad horror movies. Why does Hollywood do this to us? Is it really that hard to scare someone without making a terrible film? Hollywood has underestimated the intelligence of the movie going public by releasing cheesy "horror" films that only scare us because we can't believe that people are really that bad at acting. And yet people still shovel out the money, hoping that one of these days we will truly be scared by one of these disasters of cinema.

For many people across the nation, yesterday was just your normal day. However, to many millions of gamers around the world, September 25th should've been a holiday. Why? Well September 25th was the day Halo 3 was released on the Xbox 360. And with that release comes hours upon hours of gaming. I know this for a fact, playing over seven hours on my first night and completing the campaign with a few friends. But what happens when you need a little break from your gaming experience? Do you sleep? Do you rest for an hour or two before playing again? What I suggest to you is this: put in a movie that will get you pumped and excited for more Halo! Here are five personal picks that I believe will get you ready for the full Halo experience.

When was the last time a movie was truly original? From the Spider-Man franchise to Pirates of the Caribbean, from movies like the upcoming 30 Days of Night to films such as Lord of the Rings. So gone are the days of high grossing original films, and we are now slaves to the multi-million dollar remake industry. It is possible that The Matrix films are the last of their kind, a truly original masterpiece. Is it truly the end, however? Don't be fooled, because true movie gold is found on the small screens and art house theaters, for those are the films made with heart and soul.